Primitive elvish

mot

root. fen, marsh

A root in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 glossed “fen, marsh” with derivatives like [Q?] motto and [S?] both or moth, apparently of similar meaning (PE17/165). A likely precursor is the unglossed root ᴹ√MBOTH in The Etymologies of the 1930s serving as the basis for words like ᴹQ. motto “blot”, N. both “puddle, small pool”, and Ilk. umboth “large pool”, the last of these being the basis for Ilk. Umboth Muilin “Veiled Pool” (Ety/MBOTH, MUY).

In the Gnomish of the 1910s, the first element of G. Umboth-muilin “Pools of Twilight” was derived from ᴱ√mbaþ-, a strengthened form of ᴱ√MAÞA “dusk”, with the second element muilin meaning “pools”, the plural G. muil (LT2/225; GL/58, 75). Later still this name became S. Aelin-uial, and it seems √M(B)OT was repurposed for swamp words.

Primitive elvish [PE17/145; PE17/165] Group: Eldamo. Published by

am

root. mother

For most of Tolkien’s life, the Primitive Elvish root for “mother” was √AM. This began with the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where Tolkien gave the root as ᴱ√AMA (QL/30). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹ√AM with derivatives ᴹQ. amil and (archaic) N. emil “mother” (Ety/AM¹). In Quenya prayers of the 1950s, the word for mother was Q. Amille. In the last few years of his life, however, Tolkien toyed with the notion of changing this root to √EM. In notes associated with Eldarinwe Leperi are Notessi written in the late 1960s, Tolkien first gave the root as am, but then wrote em next to it with a question mark, along with several new em-derivatives (VT48/19 note #16). The Q. affectionate word emme for “mommy” appeared in the main article, indicating Tolkien did, in fact, adopt this new root, at least for some period of time.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Quenya writing, I personally prefer to ignore this late change to the root for “mother” and stick with the √AM-forms Tolkien used for most of his life. However, the √AM-forms were less stable in the Sindarin branch of the languages, so I’d use √EM-forms like S. emel and emig, and would assume √AM and √EM were variants of the root, as they were on VT48/19 (see above).

Primitive elvish [VT48/17; VT48/19] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-da

suffix. motion to or towards a point, allative suffix

Primitive elvish [PE21/76; PE21/79; VT49/18; WJ/366] Group: Eldamo. Published by

amal

noun. mother

Primitive elvish [PE21/83; VT48/17; VT48/19] Group: Eldamo. Published by

amas

noun. mother

amma

noun. mother

amme

noun. mother

em

root. mother

emel

noun. mother

emer

noun. mother

phum

root. moth

Primitive elvish Group: Eldamo - neologism/reconstructions. Published by

noun. small insect, fly

Primitive elvish [VT47/35] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kah

root. cause

ay(ar)

root. sea

Primitive elvish [Let/386; PE17/027; PE17/149; PE17/160; PE18/097] Group: Eldamo. Published by

keme

noun. earth

Primitive elvish [PE21/80] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kemen

noun. earth

Primitive elvish [PE21/71] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lañna

adverb. athwart

Primitive elvish [PE17/065] Group: Eldamo. Published by

mbā

noun. sheep

Primitive elvish [VT47/35] Group: Eldamo. Published by

māmā

noun. sheep

Primitive elvish [PE21/82; VT47/35; WJ/395] Group: Eldamo. Published by

us(u)kwē

noun. dusk

Primitive elvish [PE18/100; PE21/71] Group: Eldamo. Published by

en

root. name